Eric S. Nylund Interview

Eric S. Nylund is the author of Pawn’s Dream, A Game of Universe, and Dry Water. He is a graduate of the prestigious Clarion program for SF writers, and he lives in Seattle. When he learned that our group was going to discuss his recent novel Signal to Noise, he graciously offered to answer our questions about the book.

Reading Group: Was Signal to Noise your original title? Some of us think “Noise to Signal” might have been more appropriate.

Eric S. Nylund: No, Signal to Noise was the original title. It refers to the signal to noise ratio in electronics, a measure of how strong a signal you are receiving

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Signal to Noise by Eric S. Nylund

Seven people attended the discussion of Signal to Noise. This is a near future SF novel about a math professor, Jack Potter, who is an expert at cryptography. While analyzing patterns in supposedly random astronomical signals, he discovers a coded message from an alien civilization. Jack and a couple of his colleagues try to establish communication with the aliens while avoiding spies from various governments who are trying to steal their research.

This novel had several interesting elements. This book’s approach to communication with aliens is novel. The scenes of scientists conducting research seem well thought out. The scientists use a lot of Virtual Reality in their research, allowing Nylund to explore some fascinating and exotic imagery

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Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

On January 18^th, a dozen readers met to discuss Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. Our group included two persons who had not previously attended one of our meetings, one of whom was an 8-year-old.

Our normal discussion leader was in Houston for family reasons, so I was drafted into taking notes. Unfortunately, my notes are in a box somewhere in my new house so I must attempt to reconstruct the meeting from a cold-obscured memory.

Everyone liked the book (in fact, some loved the book), but some expressed

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Bloom by Wil McCarthy

Eight people attended the discussion of Bloom, including one first-time participant. Five had finished the book, one had read half of it, and the rest were there simply to socialize.

Bloom is a futuristic SF novel set in a world where the Earth has been invaded and taken over by a mysterious growth called the “Bloom”. A few Earthlings have managed to escape, and they have carved out new civilizations on Jupiter’s moons and in the Asteroid Belt. The book follows a group of human scientists who

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Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

This discussion drew a small crowd, apparently due to the holidays. Five people attended in person, and another submitted e-mail comments. Hogfather is the latest volume in the large (over 20 volumes) Discworld saga. In this book, Discworld’s equivalent of Santa Claus mysteriously disappears, and Death fills in for him.

All of us enjoyed the book. We considered it to be excellent light humorous reading, and the topic was appropriate for the holiday season. We liked Pratchett’s take on “Mary Poppins”-esque nannies. The insights into the cultural origins of the Hogfather and other similar entities such as the Tooth Fairy were

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Noir by K. W. Jeter

Seven people attended this discussion, and another person submitted comments by e-mail. The book under consideration, Noir, is Jeter’s return to writing “serious SF” after several years writing books in Gene Roddenberry’s and Philip K. Dick’s universes. Noir is a hardboiled cyberpunk detective novel that recalls the edgier material Jeter wrote earlier in his career, including Dr. Adder and The Glass Hammer. Since Jeter will be one of the Guests of Honor at the upcoming World Fantasy Convention in Corpus Christi, we felt it was time we read one of his books.

We all found Jeter’s prose style to be strongly stylish. The first chapter is written in an elaborate stream-of-consciousness style that two of us liked and the rest barely muddled through. The rest of the book is written in a hardboiled

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James Morrow Event at Adventures in Crime & Space

Many of us attended the James Morrow appearance at Adventures in Crime & Space, which was cosponsored by FACT. We heard Mr. Morrow read excerpts from his current and upcoming books, and we were impressed by his wonderful “God voice.” After the reading he signed our copies of The Eternal Footman and his earlier books. Later we took him to dinner at Ninfa’s. We had a big crowd and everyone seemed to have a good time. Morrow was pleased to have so many dedicated and knowledgeable fans.

— A. T. Campbell, III

Distraction by Bruce Sterling

Bruce Sterling’s latest book drew a large crowd and mixed reactions. Eleven people attended the discussion. About half of us loved the book, a fourth of us liked it, and the rest hated it with a passion. Details will be provided below.

First, let’s provide a brief rundown of Distraction. This basic plot is a near-future story about a recently-elected Senator’s campaign staff getting tangled up in a political situation in East Texas involving the governor of Louisiana, a rogue Air Force base, and a national lab that clones extinct animals. Sterling uses this plot

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Newton’s Cannon by J. Gregory Keyes

Nine people turned up for the discussion of Newton’s Cannon. Among the attendees were two first-time visitors who had recently moved to town and were interested in meeting local fans.

Newton’s Cannon is an “alternate science” novel that deviates from our own history when Sir Isaac Newton makes a breakthrough in alchemy in the late 1600s. This discovery yields rapid advances in tchnology and many social changes. The main story takes place mostly in the early 1700s, with interweaving plot threads involving young Benjamin Franklin, Louis XIV, Blackbeard the pirate, a great war between England and France, strange devices, angels, powerful

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Stardust by Neil Gaiman

The discussion of Stardust drew seven participants. Stardust is a fairy tale about a young man who sets on a quest in an attempt to impress a beautiful young woman and win her affections. Along the way he has adventures involving tricky witches, evil noblemen, gypsies, and fallen stars. Unusually, the book is available in two forms: a heavily illustrated version with paintings by Charles Vess, and a plain text version. All of us at the meeting had read the illustrated version, which offered all the words plus some gorgeous art for less cost than the plain text hardback.

We started off with a brief discussion of a comics convention in Austin the prior weekend. Several of us had met Charles Vess at the convention. He had brought many of the original paintings from Stardust with him to the convention, and we

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